Tune up: <$100 & <2 hours.

I tuned up the new (recently purchased) car today.  New rotor, cap, air filter, gas filter and sparkplugs.  Now when you start it up, you can hardly tell it’s even running, and the little hesitation it had going from a stop is gone.  Yea!

This is why I like old cars.  I couldn’t even find the spark plugs on my 2004 Subaru, and if I had taken the time to locate them, I would have had to be a contortionist to change them.  Some new cars you literally have to lift out the engine to do a tune up.

It took me less than 2 hours, and that included running down to the auto parts store to buy all the stuff.

I also ordered the new back lights for the car.  The windstorm last week took out the back driver’s-side tail light, so I knew when I bought it I would have to try to find one.  (Right now I have that tacky red tape over it so at least the brake and signal lights work.)  I went online and after a half hour of searching, the only one I could find was on eBay, and it came in a pair, for $100.  So I’ll have an extra passenger side lens, never know when it may come in handy.

Obsession

“Hi, my name is Max and I’m a big-old-Fordaholic.”

“Hi, Max”

“It all started in 1977, when I bought my first LTD from a friend.  He said everyone was doing it…”

Yes, I bought another car today.  This makes five.  3 are registered and running, one is awaiting a transmission transplant from the fifth one, which became a parts car for the others a few months ago.

I saw it on KSL.com, “Excellent running condition. New battery. I purchased this from the original owner. Text me with any questions 801.555.5555” the ad said.

I sent him a text, went down to his house and looked at the car.  The back bumper is quite rusty, but the rest of the car is clean.  The engine started right up, I took it for a drive and the transmission shifted so smoothly you could hardly tell it had changed gears.  No smoke, tires are reasonably good.  Front seats are a little torn, dash a little cracked, but the back seats, headliner and door panels are all but perfect.

Yup, sold.  He was asking $900, I offered him $850 and he took it.  I had the money, he went to go find the title and, whoops, couldn’t find it.  Nowhere to be found in the half hour we spent looking.  Not in the trunk.  Not in the glovebox, not in the house.  Not even in the 3 ring binder with ALL the paperwork on repairs and maintenance, dating back to 1978. (The original owner even had the home phone numbers for the people at the service department).

So he calls his friend he bought the car from, the car was still in his friend’s name, and the three of us meet down at the DMV.  Halfway there we realize we should probably bring the registration, so we head back, pick it up and make it there just as his friend gets there.  If you ever have to do work at the DMV, the best time to go is mid-day, mid-month.  We got there around 1:00, got our number which was called before we even had a chance to sit down.  Check the previous owner’s ID, check my ID, bada-bim, bada-boom, we’re out of there in less than 15 minutes. 

Actually, my addiction is not as bad as it seems.  There are several other of these cars on KSL.com, but I didn’t buy them because I didn’t want to spend all my savings.  This one is just a gem, especially for the price.